The Royal Shadow
by vampireninja09
Summary: Rose was a poor peasant who is now the Kings wife. She is unhappy about it, and dreams of getting away from him. Her life in the castle is a prison. He sees something in her that he hasn't seen in a long time and he's determined to not let her get away. She's special and even though she hates him, he'll make her stay. Will Rose grow to love the King?
1. Chapter 1: Eyes open, Eyes closed

Chapter 1: Eyes Open, Eyes Closed

"Wake up, Rose. He wants to see you now." As usual my guard, Eddie, was waking me him to tell me that I needed to report to see the King. I don't know why he always phrased it like I had a choice. I didn't have one. Not at all.

"Can't I sleep for a few more minutes? I always have to get up so early. It's frustrating that I never get to sleep in," I said as I put the pillow over my face trying to trap in the darkness and feeling my hot breath enclose into the pillowcase.

"You know you have to get up. Why do you fight it?" Eddie was pulling back my curtains ensuring the sunlight was coming in to make me wake up.

"I'm hoping one day he'll let me." I sighed and pulled the covers off of me. I put my feet over the side of my large bed, and stretched my arms in the air. I was beginning to feel the cold air touch my feet and make it's way up my legs. It was freezing, but I had gotten used to it.

"You need to hurry, Rose. We're in a hurry just like always. He doesn't like to be kept waiting, you know that. So hurry up and get dressed. I'll be waiting for you outside just like usual." Eddie strode right out the door without looking back. He was always down to business in the mornings, but when he wasn't in the watchful eye of the King, he let down his guard and could actually be carefree and fun. Even though Eddie assured me that the King wasn't a monster and I'd grow to like him, even love him, it was all I could see.

Every now and then I would think about how I ended up here and how I became a prisoner. Even though to everyone else it would seem I live in luxury because I'm the kings wife all it feels is like a prison to me. He didn't have to do me any favors by saving me in the street. I could have and would have starved if I had to. I maybe could have fought the guards and gotten away.

He somehow found me though. I was laying there in the street because I hadn't had anything to eat for five days and I was starving and exhausted. Two of his guards were coming down the street, one got off his horse, and I saw him look at me. I couldn't make out what he said, but I felt him brush the hair off of my face and saw his eyes widen once he saw my face. He said something to the other guard that was with him and the guard said something like "leave her alone, she's just a young, homeless peasant." This seemed to be a recurring event that happened and that's why I tried to prevent it from happening. When a man found out what I looked like, it seemed to cause me trouble. I knew I was pretty, I had been told all my life, but it also attracted lots of men. They weren't always the good men either.

The guard was beginning to make his move and I heard the other guard sigh and lead his horse out of the alley we were in. Apparently while his partner had his way with me, he was going to just wait until it was finished. I acted quickly even though my limbs were aching and my body was weak. My breathing was beginning to become ragged and strained but I managed to kick him in the groin.

"You little bitch, I'm not going to let you get away," The guard was gasping in pain, his face was a slight shade of red, and his eyes were bugging out. I looked down at him and decided that I had a short amount of time before he would come after me, or his partner would come after me. I had to get as far away as I could.

I began to run even though my lungs were burning. They were giving me a warning sign that this was dangerous what I was doing. They wanted to give out, and I wanted to pass out, to give up. I should just rest. The guard would have his way with me if I passed out that's what I was sure of.

Sometimes you do stupid things in order to survive. I wasn't going to stop and I would make sure the guard didn't find me. I would die fighting before I let him have his way with me. It happened to me once when I was weaker. That situation was motivation for me to learn how to learn, to die trying to fight, and to make sure it never happened again.

I was still running and making as many turns as I could. The other guard had come back to his partner and was asking him what had happened. They were yelling and I could hear it vividly. The guard that was trying to force himself on me was telling him to go after me and to bring me back. He wanted to hurt me now.

"I'll bring her back, just wait here," The other guard said to his partner. He must have gotten back on his horse again and he was beginning to move. The horse was running and chasing after me. The sounds of the clicking as the horses hooves hit the pavement told me he wasn't that far away from me. He was determined to find me.

I had to either hide or fight him when he came. I didn't know if he found me if I could fight him off. He was a lot bigger, and muscular than the first guy I fought off. He could knock me out and take me back. I decided to hide to hide and if I needed to , I would fight.

He was closing in on me, searching each close alley as he passed by. I hadn't gone that far from where the guard tried to force himself on me. I held my breath when he finally came in the alley where I was hiding in. I was crouched behind a dumpster and I wasn't concealed very well. The horses hooves were clapping against the pavement again as he slowly began to move down the alley, slowly searching to see if I was here.

As he got close to me, I quickly darted up from my position and tried to run. I saw him look and see that it was me and followed me with a look of determination on his face. He was going to catch me and there was nothing I could do.

"Stop, right now, or I will knock you down if I have to." The guard was shouting behind me. I stopped running. There was no use in fighting even though my inner self was screaming at me that I couldn't just let him take me. I stood there as he easily caught up to where I was standing. He got off his horse and stood over by me.

"What am I going to do with you? I should take you back to him. You fought though, I like your spirit. Maybe I should just take you myself. You'd be fun to play with for a little while at least. You do have a pretty face even though it's dirty. You can't hide it and you can't hide that body of yours either. I noticed your body before." He had a smirk on his face as he was looking me up and down.

He was walking towards me again and I was backing away from his. I felt my hands hit the wall and my body hit up against it too. I was beginning to feel actual fear now. There was nothing left I could do. I closed my eyes and his hand was in my hair brushing it away from my face.

"Even though you're dirty and haven't bathed, I'm still going to take you." He said as he began to lean into me.

Then I heard other voices begin to come into the alley too and sounds of other horses. My eyes were still closed but suddenly the guard flinched and pulled away from me.

There were multiple people coming towards us, I was sure. I was afraid to open my eyes and to be wrong. I was afraid it was going to be more people coming to help him or his partner out. They would leave me here with him and they'd just let this happen to me.

I opened my eyes to see that it was the King, some more guards, and then I passed out.


	2. Chapter 2: Never letting you go

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA. I sure love it though. **

Chapter 2: Never letting you go

After I got dressed, I glanced at myself in the mirror. My hair was a rats nest sitting on top of my head. If I wanted to, I could brush it and make it look nice, but I didn't care about pleasing him. He'd have me whichever way I presented myself to him. If he wanted it fixed, he was going to have to have somebody fix it because I wasn't going to. He was lucky I was even wearing a dress for him because I despised wearing them. I made my thoughts on them very known after I saw them hanging in the closet. I even ranted about how they were uncomfortable and weren't easy to do things in and he didn't care about what I thought at all. A queen had to look her best at all times, I guess. What a load of garbage that was.

After I was satisfied with my appearance for the day, I met Eddie outside the door and we made our usual trip down the long hall. Banners, flags, pictures all covered the vast walls. I counted all the things I saw as I walked by just like every other day and I always got a different number. Today it was higher than yesterday.

"You know, he's not going to be happy about your appearance and how late we are, Rose. It's the latest you've ever been since you've been here," Eddie said as he glanced at my hair nervously. We were approaching the door to the King's chambers since we met him there every day before we walked downstairs. He didn't like me to be late and to make us behind schedule.

"Sorry, Eddie. He'll just have to deal with it, or he can get rid of me," I said with a slight smile on my face as I began to play with a corner of my dress. I was secretly hoping the more I misbehaved, the more he'd want to get rid of me.

"You know that's not going to happen, Rose. We've discussed this before, and you're late just like usual." The king said as he opened up his bedroom doors. I felt his eyes assess me up and down, and his eyebrows set into an annoyed line when he saw the condition of my hair. I secretly giggled a little inside when I noticed his annoyed expression. It was still there after he quit looking at my hair.

"I'm sorry we're late, Sire. She wouldn't get up this morning. It was like she didn't want to come at all," Eddie shot me a annoyed expression too and I shrugged my shoulders. I felt a little bad for him.

"He's right, Comrade," I said to Dimitri as we began walking down the hallway again towards the stairs," I didn't want to get up this morning. I hate that it's always this early."

"It's okay, Eddie. I know how difficult she still is being. It's not your fault. You can go ahead of us this morning." Dimitri told Eddie, and Eddie bowed for a few seconds and walked ahead of us.

Dimitri stopped walking and he grabbed a hold of my arm so I was forced to stop walking too.

"Rose, you have to stop calling me, Comrade. It's disrespectful to me. If anyone besides Eddie heard you calling me that, you'd be in trouble. Other people wouldn't tolerate hearing it from you like I am. I'm hoping that if I tolerate it, you'll quit doing it." Dimitri told me harshly.

"I'm calling you Comrade because you really aren't anything more to me than that, and even calling you Comrade is stretching it. We aren't that either. You found me in the streets, so we aren't friends, and we aren't anything." I shot back to him.

"No, you're wrong. I'm your husband. You may not like it, but that's the way it is. You are stuck in this position until I either let you go, or one of us dies. You need to start realizing you aren't leaving, and you're stuck here with me." Dimitri let go of my arm as I began to forcefully rip it out of his grasp. He was a lot stronger than me, so I had to wait until he decided to let go. He disgusted me.

"I may be stuck here with you, but I don't have to like you," I told him as I glared into his eyes that were just as challenging as mine were. If he wanted a fight, and a battle, he'd get one. I wouldn't give in so easily.

"You're right, you don't," he told me," Come on, lets go downstairs and see if Lissa can do something with your hair before breakfast since we are already late and everyone probably knows it."

"Fine," I told him as we began to walk again. Everyone knew we were late because of me, but they also probably heard us fighting too. I know they gossiped that all we did was fight, never got along since I've been here, and we don't sleep in the same room.

I didn't care about the gossip but it was making him look bad too as long as I was here. I thought it would affect him, but so far, it looked like he didn't care either.

As we got downstairs and reached near Lissa's room who was my head lady-in-waiting, I could hear noises outside of her room. It sounded like yelling, and I didn't know why there would be yelling so early in the morning and who it would be with. I wondered if she knew that the King was waiting just outside of her door and that it could get her in trouble.

Dimitri knocked on the door and the fighting stopped just as abruptly as the knocks on the door stopped. Immediately the door opened, and Lissa had a startled look on her face as she noticed it was Dimitri and me.

"Good morning, My king. I didn't know you'd be here to see me or else what you witnessed would have never commenced in the distance for you to hear," Lissa said as she bowed." Did you need me to help with something for Miss Rose?" Lissa glanced from me to Dimitri.

" Good morning to you too, Lady Lissa. It's okay that this happened today, but please, don't make a habit of it with Christian. I get enough fighting with Rose every morning and I don't want to deal with hearing it down here too." Dimitri pointed at me.

"It won't happen again," Lissa replied quickly back.

"Okay then. Rose needs you to fix her hair before we have our breakfast. She didn't bother fixing it again today and she can't go out looking like that. I'm going to head out to the breakfast table and I'll leave her here with you. Christian you can come with me. The ladies don't need to be bothered right now." Lissa opened up the door to her room wider and Christian was standing right behind her. He nodded his head once and followed Dimitri.

Lissa grabbed my arm and pulled me inside of her room, looked down the hallway, and swiftly closed the door. She sighed once and looked down.

"Come on, Rose. Lets get your hair done so you can join Dimitri for breakfast." I sat down on the chair and Lissa grabbed the brush that was sitting next to her on the table. She began to brush my hair smoothing out all of the pieces that were haphazardly standing up on my head.

"For as quickly as you brush my hair, you manage you make it not hurt at all," I told her as she set the brush down on the table again. Every time after Dimitri left us alone, Lissa's demeanor changed too. She was more relaxed just like Eddie was and she just called me by my name. It was like we were becoming good friends.

"Well I have practice with doing hair. Yours isn't the only one that I've done besides my own," Lissa told me as she collected my hair to be brought up into an updo.

"You always do my hair better than I can though."

"I know that's why you do it," She chuckled back in response," And also because you know it annoys Dimitri when he sees it like that. You know he'll bring you down to me."

"That true, but I also like to see you in the mornings, too. I don't get much time alone with you…just you and me besides in the mornings like this." I brought my head back up and she pushed it back in position so she could continue with what she was doing.

"No we don't, but you're also the Queen. I'm not going to be the only one around you." She finished pinning up my hair and she let out the breath she had been apparently holding in for a while as she admired my hair and nodded in approval. She handed me a mirror. My hair was beautiful just like always after she finished with it. I should just tell Dimitri that I want her to do it every day for me. I wonder what he'd say. Maybe he'd say that I was finally doing something right as a Queen. I scowled at the thought of him mocking me and approving of something I asked for.

"It's beautiful, Lissa, just like always," I handed her the mirror back to her and she smiled," I do wish that I could wear my hair down though."

She laughed," He might let you in the future, but for now we'll do it like he wants."

"That does make things so much easier, doesn't it?" I responded back to her sarcastically. Even though she was my friend, her first orders still belonged to Dimitri over me. She had to obey him.

I stood up and walked over to the door and she began to follow me out closing the door behind her.

"You know, Rose, he's not as bad as you think he is." Lissa told me as she walked behind me. Now that we were outside of her room, she was beginning to treat me like a queen again and not a friend. In a few minutes, she'd be addressing me as one again, too.

Lissa wasn't the only one who kept telling me that Dimitri wasn't a bad. Eddie kept telling me that too. They were definitely seeing something in him that I wasn't.

**A/N: Please review! I love getting feedback on what you guys think. It makes my day! **


	3. Chapter 3: Hope

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy is not mine….not at all. It sure is amazing though!**

Chapter 3: Hope

Just as I was about to enter the hall to eat breakfast with Dimitri, I could hear loud, booming, deep laugh resounding through the limited space towards me that made me stop in my tracks. It was echoing and reverberating off the walls and filling up the space that surrounded me. It was a complete and true laugh. Obviously the person that was laughing was having a good time and letting their guard down.

I entered the hall to see that it was Dimitri laughing. There were only a few people in the room including Christian. Judging by the expression on Christian's face, I could tell that it was him that caused Dimitri to laugh so hard. His face was twisted up in a smirk that held arrogance that gave away that he was happy that he was the one to do it.

Christian nudged Dimitri and whispered something quiet to him that probably told him that I was finally here. Dimitri regained his composure with no hint of a smile left on his face to show that he had completely just let loose a few moments before and was having fun. Instantly the air and the personalities of the people reverted back to normal as Dimitri began to radiate his back to business attitude.

As usual his mouth was set into a line but today his eyes had a fiery, feral look to them. They were challenging, but at the same time, they held a certain power to them that made me begin to feel goose bumps forming on my arms. He could completely clear his face of emotion, but his eyes usually took a few more minutes to adjust to how he wanted to appear. For a few minutes, you could still see the emotions escaping as he thought about and was reliving the few minutes before. Then after that, his eyes would turn practically emotionless. Sometimes, I could swear that when he looked at me, we were talking, or we were fighting, his eyes would come alive again. It was almost like the fire in them was reigniting even for a few moments. Sometimes, I also swore I was imaging it and all that I was really seeing was annoyance that I was interpreting to something better.

So far, today was shaping up to be a good day. Dimitri seemed like he was in a better mood than he usually was and then there would be less problems for me too. If he was in a good mood, I usually got a little bit more freedom to roam and do things I wanted to rather than when he was having a bad, stressful, or extremely busy day. Maybe today if I asked, he'd even let me go outside with Lissa and a few others of my maids. If I wanted to ask though, the timing would have to be right. I would have to have all details planned out and I would have to tell him what I was exactly doing. If he got suspicious at all, or thought I was thinking about running away again, he'd never let me go. I needed to make sure I asked him before anything else happened though that might make his mood shift.

"Rose, I'm glad you finally joined us. Christian was just telling me something that was quite amusing while we were waiting." Dimitri was still sitting down at the end of the table while everyone else around him was standing. They were still waiting for me to sit down before they did anything else. Christian nodded his head at Dimitri's remark and a corner of his mouth formed into a slight smile.

"I heard you laughing as I was coming into the hall. It was louder than I thought it would be." I replied back to Dimitri as Lissa pulled out my chair so I could sit down at the other end of the table far away from Dimitri. I sat down and Lissa helped me push it back in. I felt Lissa grip onto my shoulder as she was helping me and I stole a quick glance at her to see that she was shaking her head and her mouth was forming a "no" to my remark. It was too late. I had already said what I was going to say to him.

"You're right. I do laugh quite loud I've been told. People have said they can it hear it from a long distance away,"

"Well it's not something you can really help," I snickered," But I don't really hear you laugh all that often either to know. Since I've been here I think that was only the second time."

"It's not something I try to make a habit of people seeing or hearing. I have other things to do, and business to take care of rather than having fun. I'm taking care of a kingdom," Dimitri said as he began to unfold his napkin to place on his lap.

"You don't make a habit to laugh? Are you serious? It's not really something you can control," I responded. The thought of him thinking that was just ridiculous. Who would say something like that? I wasn't saying that just because he was having fun, even for a moment, that he was slacking in his other tasks too as a King.

"Are you always quick to fight with me? Can't one morning breakfast even be at least a little peaceful?" Dimitri was looking at me with an annoyed look on his face again. He was starting to get mad again. It seemed like he didn't like it when I fought back with him, or didn't let him win an argument. It also seemed like it bothered him when we did it in front of others.

"I don't always try and pick fights with you, but when you say something outrageous and ridiculous like that, it's hard not to want to chime and tell you what I think. When you say those things, it makes me think that you do need to get out and have some more fun because it seems like you aren't having any."

Around us, people were starting to move. Some of the kitchen staff were bringing us in our breakfast. Lissa was standing right behind me shifting her weight nervously and Christian was scratching his head probably out of awkwardness. I know they didn't like to be around it either when we fought. It wasn't easy to hear. Especially when we fought about the stupidest things and most of the time over nothing.

"Drop the subject and we might discuss the subject later when we don't have company or people around us, Rose. It's not something of importance that needs to be discussed further now anyways."

I sighed. The topic wasn't something that needed be discussed further at all. He was right that it was important. I also didn't care enough to want to bring it back up. However, I was wondering if he was in a good enough mood to let me go outside or I had wasted his good mood with that fight we just had. Should I risk it and worsen his mood or just wait to ask another day. So far in the two months I had been in the castle, it was the same thing everyday. Dimitri and I fought, and then I would fulfill the orders he had planned for me with my maids until it was time for dinner. Then I would join him again and we usually didn't talk because of what happened in the morning. He'd tell me right before dinner was over if he had to go somewhere, if I had to join him with where he was going and he'd leave. After that I didn't see him again until it was time to go to bed. If he was out fulfilling business for the kingdom, I didn't see him at all.

I didn't mind if I didn't see him at all on those nights when he was gone, but if he was home, I had to tell him goodnight before both of us went to bed. A few times after I first time to the castle, before we went to bed, he had tried to kiss me on the cheek. I quickly made sure he stopped that after he did it and now we just say goodnight to each other again. At the time, I knew it made him angry, but now it seemed like he was okay with it. It also seemed like he was fine with not touching me just as much as I was fine with it. It did make me wonder why he wanted me there though if that's what he truly wanted. Why did he save me and bring me here? Was it because he felt trapped and wanted someone to be just like him?

After both of us finished up with breakfast, Dimitri told me he had business outside of the castle and he'd return just in time for dinner. I nodded my head and began to walk towards the door. Lissa quickly started to follow right behind me, and Eddie did too after we got outside the door. I didn't see him in the breakfast hall or waiting outside of it like he usually was. I thought that was where he went after he spoke to Dimitri and I in the upstairs hallway. I wondered if he had other orders to report too before he attended me again.

"Did you have a good breakfast with the King this morning?" Eddie asked me even though he probably knew the outcome. Shortly after I walked from outside the hall, I could hear some of the kitchen staff gossiping and chattering about what had just happened. When they saw me coming, they dispersed and their talking quit as some of them got back to their duties and others left all together.

"You know how it went, Eddie. What happened today is what usually happens," I replied back. After I said that, I remembered that I had completely forgotten to ask Dimitri about going outside. I would have to ask him another day since he wouldn't be back until later in the day.

"One of these days, I'm hoping it'll be different," Eddie said as we reached the stairs to go back up to my room. He was always optimistic that things would get better between Dimitri and me. He wanted us to get along, and for us to be happy together. So far, it wasn't happening, but he didn't seem to be losing faith in us either.

"I keep hoping that too. Maybe if she wasn't so argumentative, they'd get along a little better as well. She always picks a fight with him," Lissa was telling Eddie.

"Hey, it's not fair for you two to gang up on me. You're supposed to be helping me, not yelling at me," I told Eddie and Lissa pretending like I was getting angry for them protecting Dimitri and not defending me at all. I needed to remember that they'd always defend him over me.

"We aren't yelling at you, Rose, but Lissa is right. You are argumentative. You do always seem like you're wanting to pick a fight with him. I know because I'm usually there in the mornings listening to you two, too," Eddie said as he chuckled.

"I know you guys aren't yelling at me and I'm not mad."

"Good, because we do care about you, but we also care about him. We want him to be happy too and right now things are miserable. Do you think you'll ever be able to try to get along with him?" Lissa told me with a slight saddened tone.

"Maybe I can try." I told her and Eddie as we reached my room. Those words escaped my mouth before I even had a chance to think about the consequences of them. I didn't want to try but maybe I could be a little bit nicer sometimes to him. Even if it didn't make me happy, maybe I could do it for Lissa and Eddie. They were all I had right now, and I wanted to at least give them that.

Hope…..that things had the possibility of changing between us.

**A/N: Hi and Happy new year! Thank you for all the reviews so far and keep them coming! Everyone that has reviewed so far deserves a big giant cookie. Coming up there will be more revealed about the past and maybe even a POV of Dimitri's. We'll see! Anyways, I'm in need desperately of a beta reader on this story and my other VA story, so if anyone is interested…..please send me a pm! Thank you and thanks for reading! **


End file.
